4 things to know about MacArthur 'genius' grant winner Dr. Gabriel Victora

Gabriel Victora, PhD, an immunologist at a research laboratory at New York City-based The Rockefeller University, said he's "just coming to grips" with the fact that he received a MacArthur 'genius' grant, according to STAT.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named the 24 recipients of the 2017 MacArthur Fellowship Oct. 11. Dr. Victora was one of two physicians to receive this year's fellowship.

The winners will each receive a $625,000 award during the course of five years as an "investment in their potential," the report states.

Here are four things to know about Dr. Victora and his research.

1. Dr. Victora's research involves the study of antibodies and how they are able to bind "so strongly to ... target antigens," or foreign substances. He said the binding process occurs in germinal centers, structures that form inside lymph nodes or tonsils when an individual is exposed to an infection or vaccination.

2. Dr. Victora said the research his team conducts is innovative because they use various techniques to "almost visualize this evolutionary process happening," according to the report.

3. According to Dr. Victora, his team's research aims to provide a better understanding of how the proliferation process works and how it shapes the antibody response to certain pathogens. He said his team's research intersects with ongoing lymphoma research because the cellular proliferation process found in germinal centers is similar to the way in which lymphoma develops.

4. It took three phone calls on behalf of the MacArthur Foundation to get in touch with Dr. Victora to tell him he'd been selected for the 2017 prize.

"It was very interesting. I got called by this funny number from Chicago in the middle of a seminar I was attending. I called them back, and they said, 'Are you in a place where you can speak without anybody hearing you?' When they told me, I said, 'You’ve gotta be kidding.' I had to keep it to myself for a few agonizing weeks," Dr. Victora said. "The prize came to me, but it's all work I did together with many people. They should be acknowledged."

 

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